Waddie recounts the tale of the strangest sight the Northern Lights ever did see. Waddie Mitchell recites "The Cremation of Sam McGee" written by Robert W. Service during the "Anchoring the Tradition" show at the 35th National Cowboy Poetry Gathering.

ABOUT THE ARTIST
Waddie Mitchell
Twin Bridges, NV
Waddie Mitchell was immersed in the cowboy way of entertaining as a boy on the Nevada ranches where his father worked. The art of spinning tales in rhyme and meter about a rich lifestyle of pushing cows and living off the land came to be called cowboy poetry. Waddie recites the older classics as well as his own, eloquently expressing moments grand and common, humorous and tragic. In 1985, Waddie helped organize Elko’s first Cowboy Poetry Gathering. Since then, he has kept busy writing, publishing and recording. Waddie was inducted into the Nevada Writers Hall of Fame in 2011, and was honored in 2012 with the Nevada Heritage Award from the Nevada Arts Council. In 2017, he released Cohorts & Collaborators, an album featuring nine top Western artists who have co-written songs with Waddie.

“The Cremation of Sam McGee” poem by Robert W. Service (published in 1907).

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Filmed in front of a live audience at the Western Folklife Center’s G Three Bar Theater in Elko, NV, on Jan. 28, 2019.

Made possible by the multitude of staff, artists, volunteers, and community members working behind the scenes to make this show happen.

Brought to you by the Western Folklife Center, using story and cultural expression to connect the American West to the world.
www.westernfolklife.org

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